I guess the Mac App Store review turnaround time has improved, rejected 24 hours later! Turns out the multithreading portion of in-app purchases was causing the game to crash due to the main thread not having the game fully loaded before the other thread started accessing the wrong stuff. Fixed and resubmitted, hopefully turnaround will be just as fast this time.

That beta was not the version submitted, sorry I should have posted back to this thread and uploaded the new version. The aspect ratio has a much tighter restriction now to prevent awkward stretching in those screenshots. iOS will be easy because there are two supported ratios, landscape iPhone/iPod and landscape iPad. Didn't realize the window could be that small, never thought to try, I'll fix that in the next update. We did rework a few of the other menus too, they are now a bit easier to follow. The non-fixed width font system will have to wait until the next version.

The reason I didn't program the "other half of the game" before releasing it is so that I could actually release it. If I just kept improving the game until it was perfect and had all of the greatest features that we eventually want (multiplayer, more courses, better font system, ect) then I would be programming for a few more years. The game looks much better after taking 90% of the advice from this thread, but adding a few weeks to release time could cost thousands of dollars in lost revenue. We want to get to work submitting the iOS version, do the disc golf version, make more courses, make a new pinball table, barnyard blaster 2, update GL Golf for the billion and first time, and more, just not enough time in the day.

Karl: Read your last post as I was typing this, can't get Xcode to submit my package, may be my ISP, going to get that resolved then I'll put the final version up

EDIT: Cable near my house was broken and taking in water, fixed and the internet is no longer dropping almost every outgoing packet! Final .zip is up

The real horror now is waiting to see which "guideline" (which are fast becoming much more steadfast rules/policies/requirements) they will use to reject your app. In the three apps I submitted, each one was rejected for reasons that truly surprised me...

Approved for the Mac (iOS is coming along smoothly, submitting next Wednesday)! Again thank you all for your help, this game looks much better because of the advice. If you would like a promo code just email/PM me while I still have them!

Great so far, can't wait to get it out on iOS. Started strong and hit #2 in games and #20 overall yesterday at one point. Seems to be bouncing around a bit and dropping now that we finished emailing all of the GL Golf owners, we're hoping it gets put in New/Noteworthy or What's Hot to keep it going strong.

(May 5, 2012 04:41 PM)Jake Wrote: Great so far, can't wait to get it out on iOS. Started strong and hit #2 in games and #20 overall yesterday at one point. Seems to be bouncing around a bit and dropping now that we finished emailing all of the GL Golf owners, we're hoping it gets put in New/Noteworthy or What's Hot to keep it going strong.

I have been requested to ask What were actual sales number up at #2 or the the top of the MAS charts?

(May 5, 2012 04:41 PM)Jake Wrote: Great so far, can't wait to get it out on iOS. Started strong and hit #2 in games and #20 overall yesterday at one point. Seems to be bouncing around a bit and dropping now that we finished emailing all of the GL Golf owners, we're hoping it gets put in New/Noteworthy or What's Hot to keep it going strong.

I have been requested to ask What were actual sales number up at #2 or the the top of the MAS charts?

Aka what does it take to get to the top of the App store these days?

It's hard to say, I think most of that time that day we were actually averaging maybe #7 since it bounced around so much. We sold over 100 copies that day, but it has since dropped a considerable amount once you get out of the top 10. I also noticed that evens hen Nova Golf was #2, Angry Birds Space was way ahead of it in the overall top apps, so being the number one game could easily be 300+ copies a day

I wonder if the New/Noteworthy and What's Hot sections are automatically generated or hand picked, It's amazing what being at the top of one of those sections did for Pinball Shuffle for a few weeks.

Congratulations!! I've put in my little bit to help with a purchase.
Some comments on the game:
* The splash screen should be landscape instead of portrait
* The default guy looks very squat and wide, instead of like a lithe athletic person. I'm thinking it has something to do with the aspect ratio...
* Career mode doesn't look like a button... it's transparent. Why is that?
* In general, tappable areas should be minimum 44x44 pixels, which is about .25"x.25" . There are a lot of controls in the game that are quite tiny. I would definitely recommend making them bigger and more finger-friendly. All the experience buttons are too small on an iPhone
* Can I rotate my golfer on the setup screen? It seems like he should be tappable...
* The name entry field is not very intuitively placed - setting a name is very important. I would designate a completely separate screen for name and perhaps colors of the character, and then a second screen that is usually shown to have the stats and the "Buy Exp" butto.
* The name should auto-capitalize the first letter
* The mini-map's position in the bottom-right means I cannot use my right thumb to scroll left and right without completely obscuring it. The mini map is one of the most important parts about aiming. I would recommend allowing the mini map to be dragged around the screen, or simply putting it in the top right.

It's great that the game went up high on the Mac charts right away, and too bad that it's now coming down.
I'd say the difference between seeing your game rocket up into the top 10 and staying there, vs dropping back down, are all the small (and not-so-small) polish things that have been mentioned in this thread. Consider going back and revisiting some of the polish... though the initial launch for the app is here and you won't be submitting an update within the next 3 days, so it's less important now.